Maurice guides Panthers in Cup Final after son is part of ECHL title

SUNRISE, Fla. --Paul Maurice opened his press conference Saturday morning by congratulating the Florida Everblades on winning their second straight Kelly Cup championship the night before.

The Florida Panthers coach has a relationship with the staff of the Panthers' ECHL affiliate. He also has a relationship with one of the Everblades' broadcasters.

His 24-year-old son, Jake.

"He's got the first championship in the family," Paul said with a smile, "so (he's) holding that over my head."

Before the Panthers played the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final on Saturday night, Jake stood in a suite at FLA Live Arena wearing a 2023 Kelly Cup champions hat.

Yeah, Jake has bragging rights.

"A little bit," Jake said with a smile. "He's got to catch up. I'm very hopeful he will."

Paul can brag too, though.

He got into coaching at age 21 due to an eye injury in junior and made it to the NHL. He ranks fourth in games (1,767) and sixth in wins (817) in NHL history, and this is the second time he has made the Cup Final.

Now his son is chasing his own dream in his own way.

"The dream is NHL broadcaster, for sure, but I know there is a process to it," Jake said. "I know that I'm not just getting thrown up in the booth, as much as I would love for it to happen, so it's about respecting the process, learning everything that I can, getting to know as many people as I can, making those important connections, and then just enjoying where you are. I really enjoyed being with the Everblades this year."

* * * * *

Jake became interested in a media career when he was about 14 or 15, knowing he wouldn't make the NHL as a player. He thought about becoming a TV analyst or a reporter, and enrolled at Red River College in Winnipeg when his dad was coaching the Winnipeg Jets.

The Winnipeg Blues of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League needed a play-by-play broadcaster. Paul said one day he was sitting in an office with Jets assistant general manager Craig Heisinger, who suggested the Blues call a kid from Red River College.

"I thought, 'I've got a kid that wants to do that,'" Paul said.

Jake said he wasn't thinking of play-by-play until his dad called to tell him about the opportunity. He had never heard of the Blues or the MJHL. He had been more focused on the NHL. But why not?

"I was interested," Jake said. "At first, I was kind of thinking, 'It might be kind of fun to see how it goes.'"

Jake said he wasn't good in his first game. But he loved it, and the Blues wanted to keep him.

He ended up spending three seasons with them.

Every day, he found he had something to new to talk about -- a story, a play, a moment. Never boring, always exciting, the job was unlike any other.

"The best part about broadcasting is that it's the best game in the world," Jake said. "Hockey's so fast-paced, so fun. A 1-0 game and a 7-6 game can each have their own type of excitement."

Paul resigned from the Jets on Dec. 17, 2021, and joined the Panthers on June 23, 2022. He had known Everblades GM Craig Brush for decades, and when he met with Brush one day in the offseason, he mentioned his son was looking to move up in his career.

The Everblades had stopped sending a play-by-play broadcaster on the road a few years ago because of the cost, but they wanted to have one work remotely and offered Jake the job. He accepted. It was a perfect situation to be with a team that had just won a championship in Estero, Florida, about two hours west of Sunrise.

Jake did play-by-play off a monitor for road games. While Mike Kelly did play-by-play at home, Jake co-hosted a pregame show that appeared on the scoreboard and online, and he helped with on-ice player interviews. He even filled in as the public-address announcer one game.

"What I really like about him is, he's not a homer," Brush said. "He tells it like it is, and I'm seeing it the same way. … Jake's his own person when he's in the booth, and he knows the game."

Paul said he couldn't call Jake on game days, because his son was preparing so intensely. He listened to Jake's work closely.

"I'm interested in the words my kid uses to describe something," Paul said. "That's kind of interesting to me. I like to read. I like words, right? And he'll pick a good one out."

Jake drove to Panthers games and picked the brains of Steve Goldstein, the TV play-by-play broadcaster; Doug Plagens, the radio play-by-play broadcaster; and Jameson Olive, the senior digital content manager.

"He's in a suit and tie up there in the press box as if he's ready -- probably is ready -- to step in and do a game," Goldstein said. "But he's just a sponge, just wants to absorb everything. Great personality. Great demeanor."

Jake also filled in as the play-by-play broadcaster for the Florida Junior Blades of the U.S. Premier Hockey League and got to work one game with Jiggs McDonald, who spent more than 50 years as a play-by-play broadcaster in the NHL and has received the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award at the Hockey Hall of Fame.

McDonald sent an email to Chris Cuthbert of Sportsnet and Kenny Albert of TNT recently asking if they wouldn't mind talking to Jake.

Cuthbert, who had spoken to Jake earlier this season without realizing he was Paul's son, had lunch with Jake when the Panthers played the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Final. Albert spent about 10 minutes chatting with Jake before Game 3 of the Cup Final.

Albert said he listened to samples Jake had sent him and was shocked he had been doing play-by-play for only four seasons. He was that polished.

"He sounded great," Albert said. "He had great energy and enthusiasm, knew when the voice inflection should rise if something exciting was happening, and had great information. You could tell he really did his homework. He obviously knows the game."

Jake appreciates it.

"You always want to listen to the people who have honed their craft the best way, so listening to them, learning from them, it's been excellent," Jake said. "It's all about just making those connections. More so than that for me is learning and respecting what they can teach me, because it just makes me better."

* * * * *

Paul appreciates it too.

"The broadcasting community has been unbelievable with him," Paul said. "So, I'm a dad. I'm just a dad. I love all those guys now. They've been good to my kid. It's been a wonderful experience for him."

Paul also has a better appreciation of the media now -- how reporters and broadcasters do their jobs, why they ask the questions they do.

"I'd be something sour at some jerk coach that gave [Jake] a hard time because he didn't like the question because he just lost a game," Paul told reporters in his press conference Saturday morning. "So, I am mindful. It has changed the way I approach what I do with all of you, because I get it."

Mostly, Paul is happy for his son, and he wants to be part of a Stanley Cup championship with the Panthers after Jake got to be a part of a Kelly Cup championship with the Everblades.

The Panthers lost to the Golden Knights 3-2 in Game 4 on Saturday and trail 3-1 in the best-of-7 series. Game 5 is at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; TNT, truTV, CBC, SN, TVAS).

"God, he's going to be hard to live with," Paul said with a smile before Game 4. "We've got to win this."

Photos: Florida Everblades Hockey Club